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Michelle Goldberg

By Michelle Goldberg

Opinion Columnist

The most consequential moment from Donald Trump’s glitchy interview with Elon Musk on Monday came during a discussion of government cost-cutting. “Well, you, you’re the greatest cutter,” Trump told Musk, before launching, apropos of nothing, into a reverie about how Musk dominates his employees. “They go on strike,” said Trump. “I won’t mention the name of the company, but they go on strike and you say, ‘That’s OK. You’re all gone. You’re all gone. So every one of you is gone,’ and you are the greatest.”

Trump’s sympathy with plutocrats over unions is not a surprise, given both his record in office and his desperate desire for the approval and admiration of other billionaires. Though the ex-president made successful electoral appeals to the working class — particularly the white working class — his record on labor was that of a standard conservative Republican.

He appointed union busters to the National Labor Relations Board, the federal agency that enforces labor law. His Department of Labor reversed the “persuader” rule, which had forced transparency on companies waging anti-union propaganda campaigns. His Supreme Court appointees dealt a severe blow to public sector unions in the Janus decision, an outcome Trump celebrated. His signature policy accomplishment was a tax cut that disproportionately benefited the rich.

Nevertheless, Trump’s jocular delight in a centibillionaire’s war on labor shocked some of his populist sympathizers. Sean O’Brien, who last month was the first Teamsters president to speak at a Republican National........

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